Alien 4

Alien 4

Description

Alien #4
A larval tube anemone ~1.2cm total diameter. Eventually, this anemone will settle onto the seafloor, where the central stalk will be buried into the sand and the tentacles will catch food particles and small crustaceans floating past, but here, in it’s larval stage, its happily floating through the blackness, letting luck be it’s guide. Or is there so much more that we don’t understand than blind “luck”? We know virtually nothing about creatures such as this. Could there be chemical queues telling it where and when to settle into a suitable substrate? Is the right time to settle determined simply by age, or is it environmental conditions, or some other factor? How does it perceive its environment? We’re still learning……and we have a loooooooong way to go…..